The leader of the gunmen barricaded inside the police compound, Varuzhan Avetisyan, said in a telephone interview with local media that they made a decision to surrender after security forces used armored vehicles to enter the police compound. A number of rallies were held in Yerevan in support of the armed group, resulting in clashes with police and over a hundred arrests.
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The NSS announced the “complete liberation” of the police compound located in the city’s southern Erebuni district more than an hour after the leader of the gunmen, Varuzhan Avetisian, said they have chose to give up themselves. The demonstrators blocked traffic for about two hours, but dispersed peacefully early Sunday.
Before surrendering, the group released a statement announcing that they were ready to lay down their guns. The militants have occupied the police station for 14 days.
The armed men included veterans of the war in Nagorno-Karabakh with neighboring Azerbaijan, and were seen as national heroes by their supporters, who want the government to pursue a harder line on the issue.
An ultimatum deadline from the authorities, who threatened to launch a full-scale assault against the gunmen, expired on July 30.
The protests organized by senior Founding Parliament members and other opposition figures drew up to several thousand people. Fighting broke out when the protesters tried to approach the police station, and were stopped by rows of riot police.
The group’s demands included the release of Armenian opposition figure Jirair Sefilyan, who was detained on June 20 after authorities allegedly uncovered a plot to seize several buildings and telecommunication facilities in Yerevan.
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An armed man walks inside the Erebuni police station seized by “Sasna Tsrer” movement members in Yerevan, Armenia, July 23, 2016. As of now, 17 people continue inpatient treatment, including 3 police officers and 2 journalists.
